Just because you’ve made the decision to drive an expensive car like a Mercedes doesn’t mean that you should have to spend the rest of your yearly salary on car insurance. A large number of factors will cause the price of your policy to increase, chief among them the fact that you’ve chosen to drive a car like a Mercedes in the first place. However, there are a number of tips that you can use to help drive your rates down as low as they will go. Though you will never pay as little for a policy as someone who drives a Chevy Blazer or a comparable entry level car, you can still save as much money as possible with minimal effort.

Begin by calling your insurance provider and inquiring about any available discounts or promotions that you may qualify for. While many insurance providers won’t automatically give you discounts as they become available, they will inform you about their existence after a basic phone call. The customer service representative on the phone will likely ask you a series of questions, allowing them to determine which of the available discounts are best suited for your account.

Use the Internet to research other basic discounts that you may be qualified for. If you are self employed, are not using your vehicle for work purposes or work out of your home or apartment, for example, you qualify for a reduced rate on your insurance with most providers as a result. The theory is that people who work from home spend less time on the road because they don’t have to commute back and forth to a job. If you’re on the road a significantly smaller amount of time than the average person, you are less likely to get into the types of accidents that happen on a regular basis. As a result, you are considered to be a less risky person to insure and will be rewarded with reduced rates.

Another way to keep car insurance for your Mercedes affordable is to increase your deductible as much as you can afford. The deductible is the amount of money you would have to pay out of pocket after an accident before any insurance benefits would go into effect. If you had a £1,000 deductible, for example, you would be required to pay for the first £1,000 of repairs after you got into a car accident. Your insurance provider would cover every pound after that initial £1,000 was taken care of. By increasing your deductible and agreeing to pay more money should the need ever arise, you can greatly reduce your premiums as a result.

When deciding to take those steps to reduce your rates, however, consider how expensive a car like a Mercedes can be to afford. A £1,000 deductible on an average car may cover a large portion of all necessary expenses. The same deductible on a car that is already expensive, however, will likely cover much less. As a result, think of an increased deductible as an investment. While you will need to pay a larger amount of money if you ever file a claim, you will be saving money every month by way of decreased premiums. Due to the value of the Mercedes and the cost to repair it, however, you will likely have to raise your deductible by a significant amount to see any real benefit.

Note that you can also get lower car insurance rates by maintaining a clean driving record. Mercedes owners already pay higher rates because people with nicer cars are statistically more likely to get speeding tickets and other types of violations. By keeping your driving record clean, you can help drive some of those costs back down as much as you can.